LOCAL government units (LGUs) will be forced to hasten the approvals process for the construction of telco towers, a major roadblock that players often cite, as the government continues its initiatives to ease business processes, according to the chief of the League of Cities of the Philippines (LCP).
Bacolod City Mayor Evelio Leonardia, the president of the LCP, said the intensified implementation of the law that promotes ease of doing business will result in better processes for telco infrastructure build.
“All LGUs are supposed to make it easy for business to grow. The Philippines’s feat in the ease of doing business ranking will put pressure on the rest of LGUs,” he replied, when asked about the LCP’s position in the common towers initiative of the government.
Leonardia was referring to the 29-notch jump of the Philippines in the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business Ranking. “With the focus on the ease of doing business, I believe that sooner or later they will come to be in their proper places,” he said.
Telcos often cite LGU permits as one of the culprits for the low tower density rate in the Philippines. To help address this, the Department of Information and Communications Technology introduced the common tower initiative, in which tower companies will be the ones to build telco infrastructure with the assistance of the government agency.